Kimi Raikkonen convinced he was quicker than Lewis Hamilton in the wet

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Kimi Raikkonen believes he had the pace to secure pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix, but said he came up behind traffic on his quick lap.

The Ferrari driver had been on provisional pole position as conditions gradually improved in Q3, but there was still time to fit a fresh set of full wet tyres and try one more lap. Both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas managed to improve to lock out the front row of the grid for Mercedes, but Raikkonen said his lap was ruined by traffic.

“It’s disappointing not to be first,” Raikkonen said. “I think we had the speed today.

“I was pleasantly surprised how nice the car was in the wet, because that definitely hasn’t been our strongest point. That was great and I was able to drive it at least in the wet.

“I was a bit unlucky with the traffic once we changed to new tyres. There was more grip and for sure a lot more time, but we got behind Haas and you know I couldn’t really slow down a lot more or else we wouldn’t have time to start and then the spray there was nothing I could have done.

“It’s shame because today for sure there was the speed. But tomorrow is another day.”

Raikkonen has just one pole to his name since returning to Ferrari in 2014. Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Raikkonen said he plans to attack from third on the grid in the knowledge that Ferrari tends to make better starts than Mercedes and that there is a long run down to Turn 1.

“I’ve nothing to lose, do I? We’ll do the normal things and see where we come out.

“You can plan it as much as you want but things will go quickly and obviously we will try to make the right decisions on the tyres when it comes and hopefully make a good getaway and see what we can do.”